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50 International The Economist April 25th 2020

2 ique, as there is this law already in many tronic message to show to the police if they Some governments are enforcing lock-
other democratic countries,” says a spokes- are stopped. The authorities would moni- downs harshly. Several Indian states now
man for the ministry of justice. tor everyone’s geolocation and even finan- allow the police to arrest people without
Some curbs on freedom are reasonable cial records to make sure they comply. The charge. In Fiji there have been more coro-
given the scale of the emergency. Large potential for abuse is obvious. navirus-related arrests than diagnostic
gatherings can spread infection, so limit- Spreading rumours during a pandemic tests. Kenyan cops have beaten health
ing them for a while makes sense. But it can be dangerous. Many regimes have used workers on their way to work.
also helps regimes keen to snuff out prot- this as an excuse to crack down on critics. In El Salvador more than 2,000 people
ests. Algeria banned street marches that Reporters without Borders, a watchdog, have been locked up for violating strict so-
have lasted, off and on, for a year, threaten- cites 38 countries that have used covid-19 as cial-distancing rules, often defeating their
ing the elderly ruling elite. India’s lock- a pretext to harass the media. It stresses purpose. Its Supreme Court has told the
down has squashed nationwide rallies that the list is not exhaustive. government to stop arbitrarily detaining
against the government’s mistreatment of In Turkey at least eight journalists have people in inhumane conditions that are
Muslims. In Russia even lone protesters been arrested on charges of “spreading likely to spread the disease. But its fiery
against Mr Putin have been arrested. misinformation”. Hundreds of others have president, Nayib Bukele, has refused (via
Social-distancing rules can be applied been investigated for critical posts on so- Twitter) to obey it. Thus, covid-19 has pre-
selectively. Azerbaijan’s president says the cial media. In Bolivia the interim presi- cipitated a constitutional crisis in one of
“isolation” of members of the opposition dent, Jeanine Áñez, decreed that those who Latin America’s most violent countries.
may “become a historical necessity”. Sever- “misinform or cause uncertainty to the
al have been locked up for supposedly vio- population” can be jailed for one to ten Getting la grippe
lating a lockdown. Unpopular minorities years. Since she has a record of forcing op- Indonesia and the Philippines have given
are also at risk. In Uganda police raided a position radio stations off the air, critics the army prime responsibility for fighting
shelter housing 20 gay and transgender fear this will become a tool to lock them up. the novel coronavirus. In some ways this is
people and later charged them with “con- Some governments have criminalised pragmatic: only the armed forces can oper-
gesting in a school-like-dormitory setting almost any disparagement of their re- ate effectively across these two archipelago
within a small house”. sponse to the pandemic. A Thai artist called states. They are also popular. “They abhor
Defeating the virus will require tracking Danai Ussama faces up to five years in pri- useless debates. They are silent workers,
who has been infected, tracing their con- son after griping that no one took his tem- not voracious talkers. They act without
tacts and quarantining them. This may in- perature at Bangkok airport. fanfare. They get things done,” said a
volve intrusive surveillance. Most people “Censorship kills,” says Kenneth Rothof spokesman for Rodrigo Duterte, the presi-
will surrender some privacy temporarily to Human Rights Watch. “When govern- dent of the Philippines. Even so, there are
save lives. Good governments will take ments suppress the free flow of informa- worries. Mr Duterte has publicly urged the
only the data they need from their citizens tion, it is terrible for public health, as we security forces to shoot troublemakers
and do so only when they need it. Others saw in Wuhan. The Chinese government’s dead. Fortunately, they appear to have ig-
will not. muzzling of the doctors who sounded the nored him, but in the long run, turning to
Cambodia’s emergency law allows for warning gave the virus a three-week head- the men in uniform during a public-health
unlimited surveillance of private citizens. start to go global.”A study by the University crisis risks weakening civilian oversight.
Moscow is mulling a scheme whereby of Southampton found that if interven- The pandemic is seriously disrupting
everyone would have to register their per- tions in China had started three weeks ear- elections. South Korea showed in April that
sonal details on an official website. Every lier, the number of coronavirus cases a well-governed rich country can organise
time they want to go out, they would have would have been 95% lower at the end of a vote while maintaining social distance.
to provide a reason and the address of their February, “significantly limiting the geo- Poorer, less orderly places find it harder.
destination. They will then be sent an elec- graphical spread of the disease.” For some leaders, that is a welcome excuse
to delay their reckoning with voters.
Court-ordered re-runs of rigged elec-
Weakened constitutions tions in Bolivia have been postponed.
Selected pandemic-related political acts, 2020 Those in Malawi could be delayed, too.
That would leave the presidency with Peter
Country What happened
Mutharika, whose victory last year was
Hungary Parliament gives prime minister Viktor Orban almost unlimited powers, with no expiry date ruled invalid after his supporters used
Cambodia Emergency law allows government to take any “appropriate” measures to fight covid-19, Tipp-Ex to alter vote tallies.
including seizing property and imposing martial law. Penalties include ten years in prison
Some leaders are holding votes on
Serbia Emergency law in effect puts president in sole charge. New powers include imposing curfews schedule, knowing that the opposition will
Turkey Up to 90,000 prisoners to be released to avoid spreading covid-19 in jails. Political prisoners barely be able to campaign, whereas the in-
pointedly excluded
cumbent can look statesmanlike on televi-
China Prominent pro-democracy activists arrested in Hong Kong. Government creates gaping hole sion. Poland’s ruling party wants to go
in the territory’s Basic Law, which protects Hong Kong’s freedoms
ahead with a presidential election in May
India Ruling party blames Muslims for spread of covid-19. Government slow to quash rumours about for this reason, though it could still be de-
Muslims spitting in food. Muslims beaten up
layed. Guinea held a referendum on March
El Salvador 2,000+ people locked up for violating social-distancing rules. Supreme Court orders government 22nd to allow President Alpha Condé to run
to stop arbitrarily putting them in overcrowded detention centres. President Nayib Bukele refuses
for two more terms. The proposal passed
Uganda Police raid a shelter housing 20 gay and transgender people. They are accused of violating
social-distancing rules easily. Guinea now has almost 700 covid-19
cases and possibly 12 more years of Mr
Togo President can rule by decree. Relief money goes to those with voter ID cards, which opposition
supporters lack after boycotting recent rigged election Condé, who has advised Guineans to inhale
menthol and drink hot water to ward off
Azerbaijan President vows to use social distancing to “isolate” the opposition, saying it may
become a “historical necessity” the virus.
Ethiopia’s elections, which are set for
Source: The Economist
August, were supposed to herald the dawn 1